I’ve created a Meetup group!
Called Portland Integrative Finance Community, it is a group where we can come together to share our experiences around two central questions:
- How can we use money to help us achieve our goals?
- How can we keep money from being a drain on our lives and our relationships?
Let’s heal our relationship with money. Will you join me?
Table of Contents
Background
A few weeks ago, I advertised that I was hosting a “round-table discussion group” and invited anyone who was in the Portland area to come and attend.
The meeting, despite being not very well advertised, was an unabashed success in my opinion. People shared their stories, talked openly with each other, and connected. There was even a healthy level of exhaustion in the group when we were done (which I consider a good thing, in that it means people were emotionally involved). It wasn’t solely designed as a platform for me (I do plenty of that here), but instead I was merely acting as a facilitator.
Also, I got to use a chalkboard, which always makes me happy.
Let’s do more of that
I left the event with an strong sense that this idea has legs.
I envisioned an ongoing series of discussion groups, all with a slightly different topic, all bringing a varying number of people with different skill sets and experience levels. Everyone could meet each other where they were.
I pictured something like a relationship discussion group, with its associated emotional rawness and intensity, but instead of the topic being interpersonal relationships, the topic would be personal finance.
Think such an idea far-fetched? You obviously weren’t there for the inaugural meeting.
But you’re in luck. Because if you’re in the Portland area, you can join the Portland Integrative Finance Community and see for yourself. Bring your ideas, your challenges, and your dreams, and we’ll work together to get you going on the right path.
A note on the word “Integrative”
I’ve used this word in the past, as I feel like it applies very well to the aims of this group (and this site) and differentiates it from a more expected wealth-building group.
I first encountered this delineatator from Dr. Andrew Weil and his Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. In it, he defines Integrative Medicine as:
“…healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person, including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies.” [Emphasis mine.]
I loved that. Medicine that takes account of the whole person. How obvious! How…radical.
So too with Integrative Finance. This is a community that takes account of the whole person. You are not a ledger or a spreadsheet, and numbers are neither the problem nor solution. We are complex, multi-faceted human beings, and healing and progress begin at the emotional level.
I look forward to joining with you to creating a positive, vibrant community.
